yes, but Norway/Shute wrote a similar book before WWII, about a family fleeing their town being bombed, so his point was that ordinary people wouldn't panic but would live out their ordinary life til the end.

But I do agree with the writer that the problem was that they accepted the end too quietly (everyone killed themselves) when maybe there were ways to protect themselves and live.

Catholics, of course, would be forbidden to commit suicide....

So in a Canticle for Leibowitz, not only are the mutants are protected by the church and later the monks are trying to stop euthanasia of those injured by radiation sickness).

so when the WAGD stuff is being predicted, I remember when a lot of folks thought we'd all be snuffed out by Uncle Joe's bombs before we grew up....and indeed, a weak Kennedy, who only wanted peace, was seen as weak, and brought the world to the edge of war when Russia called his bluff.

Which is why the war in VietNam was started: To show by proxy that the US wouldn't back down.

And those "anti war" folks who pat themselves on the back for their "brave" stance in the land of safety conveniently overlook two things:

One, the massacres, genocides and massive refugee problems that happened when the US withdrew.

Two: That the war did not stop the dominos from hitting Cambodia and Laos, who also had their massacres and tyrannies, but did save Thailand and other nearby countries.

In the Philippines, despite the leftists in the US and the Catholic left from cheering the communists on, they did not win: (the triumph of democracy by Tita Cory is not just about getting rid of Marcos, but about the people at the grass roots choosing democracy over the communist tyranny beloved of local intellectuals).

which was the point of the Iraq war, which essentially was won but the country needed time to stablize, when the pacifists decided that peace through strength was wrong and took the troops out: They figured to bring peace with weakness was the answer.

heh. Guess no one reads history: Wonder what would have happened in Germany in 1950 if no troops were there? Probably the riots and mobs similar to the 1920's...

I SAW THIS YESTERDAY, AND IT’S GOOD ADVICE: General James ‘Mad Dog’ Mattis Email About Being ‘Too Busy To Read’ Is A Must-Read. “The problem with being too busy to read is that you learn by experience (or by your men’s experience), i.e. the hard way. By reading, you learn through others’ experiences, generally a better way to do business, especially in our line of work where the consequences of incompetence are so final for young men. . . . Ultimately, a real understanding of history means that we face NOTHING new under the sun.”